Name That Space Photo
Spacecraft and telescopes have sent back some of the most breathtaking pictures ever taken, from our own cosmic neighborhood to glowing clouds thousands of light-years away. How many of these celestial icons can you name?
About this quiz
Some of the most famous photographs ever taken were not shot on Earth at all. Spacecraft and telescopes have given us close-ups of planets and moons, astronauts' views of home and deep images of glowing gas clouds and distant galaxies. This quiz brings together sixteen of those images and asks you to name what each one shows.
The set ranges from worlds in our own solar system to nebulae and galaxies thousands or millions of light-years away. Some subjects are easy to recognise from their colours or rings, while others look surprisingly similar until you know what to look for. Every image comes from NASA's Image and Video Library, and NASA imagery is in the public domain. A few are processed views, such as enhanced-colour images or renderings built from orbiter data, and each one comes with a short note about the mission or telescope behind it once you reveal the answers.
Each photo has its own answer box. Catalogue numbers and common alternative names are accepted for many objects, but very short partial names are not, because the box locks the moment it recognises a correct answer, so type the full common name. You have five minutes. If you are stuck, think about scale: is this a single round body, a swirl of stars or a cloud of gas lit from within?
Science · 16 answers · medium · 5 minutes to play · Played 1 time
More Science quizzes
- Name That Cloud - Clouds come in far more shapes than most people notice, and meteorologists have a Latin name for every one of them. How well do you really know the sky above your head?
- Sizing Up the Solar System - Some of the biggest names in our cosmic neighborhood are smaller than you'd think, and a few underdogs punch well above their weight. How good is your sense of scale once you leave home?
- How Loud Is That? - From the faintest murmur to a blast that shakes the ground, the world is full of noise, but how loud is it really? A dozen familiar sounds, from the kitchen to the launch pad, put your ears to the test. Find out how well you can judge the volume of everyday life.
- Taxonomy Ranks - Every living thing has a place in the great family tree of life, from the broadest branches down to a single species. Biology class drilled these levels into you once. Can you still put them back in their proper order?
- Scientists and Their Discoveries - Twelve great minds, twelve breakthroughs that rewrote science, from the inside of the atom to the far edge of the cosmos. Can you pair each scientist with the discovery that made their name?
- Geological Eras - Earth is more than four billion years old, and geologists split that vast stretch into eras that saw the first microbes, the first oxygen, the age of the dinosaurs and the rise of mammals. Can you put Earth's deep history back in the right order?
- Periodic Table Elements - A few elements are freebies. The tongue-twisters hiding at the bottom of the table, not so much. How much of the periodic table can you light up from memory?
- Bones of the Human Body - From the tiniest bone deep inside your ear to the longest one holding you up, your skeleton is built from 206 bones you use every day and rarely name. How many can you pull from memory, head to toe?